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Months after America’s Finest Hemp Company in downtown Danville shuttered following changes to state laws on industrial hemp retailers, the Town Council is set to discuss next steps for the shop and review its municipal ban on cannabis sales in a study session this week.
The business owners announced the closure in October, citing changes to state law that changed the classification for hemp retailers to be included under cannabis retailers.
In the months that followed, they proceeded to liquidate their inventory and furniture, with the site going on to host a memorabilia and collectible pop-up during the holiday season.
Under Assembly Bill 8, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last fall, most hemp products such as those sold at the now-shuttered Danville storefront are now under the same category as cannabis products according to the new state regulations.
“Because the Town prohibits all commercial cannabis uses within Danville, this means AFHC may no longer legally operate in Town,” city attorney Robert Ewing wrote in a staff report prepared for the meeting. “Given this change in the law, the Town Council has requested information regarding the change in state law and any potential changes in Town regulations to allow AFHC to resume operating in Danville as a cannabis retailer.”
The Town Council adopted a ban on commercial cannabis sales in 2009 – prior to which there had been no local policy in place either prohibiting or allowing for commercial – after the planning division received applications for cannabis dispensaries and pointed to the lack of guidance as to how to proceed under the town’s municipal code.
The ban started as a moratorium that was extended through 2011, with an ordinance prohibiting all medical cannabis uses passed in 2016. When recreational cannabis sales were legalized under a proposition passed by voters later that year, the council adopted a second ordinance banning all commercial cannabis sales in 2017.
Existing policies were amended in 2023 to allow for the delivery of medical cannabis due to a previous change in state law, which is currently the only exception to the townwide ban on retail cannabis.
But allowing the popular downtown hemp shop to reopen would take more than simply repealing existing prohibitions, according to Ewing’s staff report.
“After a review of a number of local ordinances, it is clear that the current model for permitting and regulating storefront cannabis retail involves a two-step process: 1) requiring a cannabis retail permit; and 2) determining in which zoning districts cannabis retail would be allowed. In addition to local regulation, any commercial cannabis use must obtain a state license,” Ewing wrote. “All three of these steps would need to occur in order to allow this use in Danville.”
Town staff are seeking further direction from the council at the upcoming study session, which is set to be informational only.
The Danville Town Council is set to meet at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday (Jan. 13). The agenda is available here.
In other business
* The council is set to consider changing the date of its first meeting in December – when election results are typically certified and councilmembers are sworn in – from Dec. 1, with the necessary election certificate from the county not anticipated to be ready until Dec. 3.
* The council is set to hear a presentation on the town’s quarterly investment report as part of a light agenda at its regular meeting Tuesday evening at 5 p.m. The agenda is available here.
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